'Tireless Tim'

Gavel grew up on a farm in country New South Wales and said a hard-work ethic was in his blood.

"My father was a hard worker, my whole family was hard-working," he said.

"I thought the only way I was going to plough through [broadcasting] was to do what I've done everywhere else in life, that was to work twice as hard as anybody else."

And that's exactly what he continued to do, arriving at work before dawn for morning news bulletins, then often hosting multiple community events throughout the day.

The name "Tireless Tim" was bestowed upon Gavel at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and stayed with him ever since.

"I thought, I'm here and I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to be doing, so I just worked through the night as hard as I'd ever worked in my life," he said.

"I've worked to satisfy the job. I don't even know what my roster is."

An enormous contribution

Away from the studio, Gavel is a devoted father of three and community volunteer.

As patron at Canberra's Early Morning Centre, he delivers bread three mornings each week to the homeless and disadvantaged.

He's also an ambassador for Every Chance to Play, which provides funds to families unable to pay for registration fees for junior sport.

And then there's his work with the Special Olympics and Youth Care Canberra, Ronald McDonald House, the Physical Activity Foundation, the School Sport ACT Council and the ACT Olympic Council fundraising committee.

It's an enormous contribution that somehow Gavel does not consider all that remarkable.

"I've just made sure that I haven't overloaded myself and I'm able to do justice to each of those."